I'll talk more about what I liked and disliked later, but now I want to talk about all the trailers that aired ere the film.

Everything being even, the only threats I see to the continuing box office dominance of Marvel Studios is . . .1st. Lucas Films2nd. The promotional power of the House of Mouse. That was quite a promotion they did for this month's POTC5.For a couple of reasons.

1st MusicEveryone seemingly does music now, but (IMHO) no one does it better than Marvel Studios, unless it is the House of Mouse, who has always seem to understand the importance of music in film, and who was the last major studio in Hollywood to retain a person on staff, who did nothing more that write music for anything produced at the studio.

2nd VillainsA hero is only as good as the villain he faces, and Marvel Studios has some of the best. Maybe because they cast against type.Spider-man : Homecoming. Michael KeatonThor : Ragnarok. Cate BlanchettGuardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2. A big, big surprise here.Which may be why I'll be seeing my 1st Spider-man and my 1st Thor later this year.

This one's a hoot! In an age where superhero movies tend to be gritty, and everything has to be dark and/or relevant, and Everybody Has Something Important to say, this one is unabashedly shiny and tongue in cheek. Yet somehow it managed to be just serious enough not to be total fluff.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor."

And now for the film.The bitsI thought the bits worked better than the whole, but what bits they were.

Cameos(And again no one does it better.)--David HasselhoffYES!--DQAnd so they infest the back roads of Missouri, too. A great restroom stop.--Howard the DuckIf I understand this correctly, then Howard was the 1st Marvel character to get his own film, and if they had gone on that for more films, we'd probably not see another film from Marvel. For the film was both a critical and box office disaster.--Pac-manFever!--Stan LeeThat wonderful, wonderful old man, In the film, he could have been talking about his own life.

The creditsNote that in the end credits, Drax seems to be the only one not doing a dance off. Which is too bad, as in the 1st film, as a prank on David Bautista, who plays Drax, they said everyone had to do a dance-off, and much to everyone's surprise, David turned out to be one of the best dancers there. This is not in the film, but it is included as an extra in the DVD version of the film.

De-agingHas anyone in a film de-aged better than Kurt Russell?

Emotions10x the emotions than found in most unconventional films. That some critics seem to prefer.

Questions (3)--Where did the tape come from?most likely from Nebula, as she seems to be the last one asked. Though what she was doing with tape boggles my mind.--Who stole the batteries?for most of the film, I thought it was Rocket, but at the end, I got the idea that he was actually covering up for Yondu.--Who was the boy on the ship at the end of the film?what was he doing on the ship? how did he get onto the ship? will he be back for the 3rd film, and there will be a 3rd film. he interests me, because he is such a blank.

Ravagersseemingly segregated by sex. seemingly segregated by race. and while there seems to be "non-whites" in Yondu's crew, 99% seem to be "whites." On the other hand, on the ship captained by a woman, so far all you see are women, and on the ship captained by a "non-white," so far all you see are "non-whites." looking to see more crews in the 3rd film to see if this bears out.

Surprisesyou expect this, but not these.--the actingprobably the best acting Sylvester Stallone has done in some time.--the morals expressed.in morality, some of the best moral lessons heard. Now that his 3 young children have seen the film, Vin Diesel said that at dinnertime, the family sits around the dinner table, and they talk about the moral choices the characters make in the film.--the storyit works. it not only works (IMHO) it works really well. In fact, I think the origin story works better than the one in the comic books.

Violencemore violent than the 1st, which raises the question as to how violent the 3rd one will be, and there will be a 3rd one.

3rd filmcaught between Sylvester Stallone, Ving Rhames, and their Ravagers and the Sovereign and her Adam (and I was correct, that's Adam Warlock) it'll be interesting to see how things shake out for the Guardians. an item of interest in some stories is that Adam Warlock is suppose to be Peter Quill's father.

Here's to the 3rd which is expected to be released in 2020, in the next phase of Marvel films.

What interests me is the business of doing business, as always there are winners and, unfortunately, losers.

WinnerGuardians of the Galaxy, vol, 2YOU

LoserKing Arthur : Legend of the SwordThe competition

TalentWinnerWhen they come to you with hat in hand, asking for a job, you have the edge. And they are coming to you, because it most likely means a sequel and a larger paycheck in the future. And in Hollywood parlance, associating with a winner makes their next gig simpler to get.LoserNo sequels. Though, this was meant to be the 1st in a series of 6 films, each focusing on one of the characters in the 1st film. And in Hollywood parlance, associating with a loser makes their next gig harder to get.

Cost Winner$200,000,000. Box office (international) $508,957,419. It has already earned a profit, and if it costs $200,000,000 to make the next film, it'll take less than $200,000,000 more, which is doable, to make the next film with profits made from the previous film.Loser$175,000,000. Box office (domestic) $14,700,000. We don't know in the end how much it'll make, though it is likely less than $75,000,000. Thus, even if they decide to make a sequel, since there are no profits and unlikely to be any profits, they have to not only come up with $175,000,000. They have to come up with $100,000,000 to cover the loss on the previous film.

Casting and screenplayWinnerGood casting. Good writing. At least in comparison to the other film.LoserBad casting. Bad writing. At least in comparison to the other film.Two reasons one is more successful than the other.

Critical receptionWinnerNot all critics dislike the film, and most critics probably liked the film, but, if you look at the comments from the critics, who dislike it, you see that they did not get it.LoserCritics disliked this one more than the other film.

But, the quality of the film or the lack thereof, is only half of the film. We'll get to the other half next time.

Guided toursAdventures by DisneyWhen they do a long weekend in San Francisco, one of the places they visit is Lucas Film. Thus, it is not out of the realm of possibility, when they do their tours of Southern California, they'll visit Marvel Studios, especially as Marvel Studios has moved to beautiful downtown Burbank (California) or in that area.

Half MarathonsRun Disney sponsors 9 half marathons in California, Florida, and France. One of them being the Super Heroes Half Marathon at Disneyland from November 9 to November 12.

Health and Fitness Expo -- Kids 0-8 races -- Meet 'n' greets -- Photo opportunities -- Spectator Viewing Party (for those not there to run, but to watch and/or cheer on the runners.) -- And, of course, a lot of the adults and kids like to get dressed up in Super Hero costumes.

Theme parksDisney's California Adventure

At the end of this month what was The Twilight Zone of Terror will get a Guardians of the Galaxy theme with over 200 props from the film.Meet Star-Lord, Gamora, a 7' Groot. Daily dance-offs.

And the rumor has it that The Universe of Energy at EPCOT at Walt Disney World will be replaced by another attraction themed to The Guardians of the Galaxy. And that's just in the U.S.

Hong Kong DisneylandThe Iron Man attraction has become the most popular attraction, in 6 months, at Hong Kong Disneyland.

TVWhile TV may cease to exist as we know it, till then on TV or the internet in 2017 and 2018.Cloak and Dagger -- Defenders (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Daredevil) -- The In humans -- The New Warriors -- The Runaways (and keeping it in the family one of the stars is John Carradine's granddaughter.)

And Fox has a program on the X-Men called The Gifted, and DC , while it has a couple of animated TV programs on The Teen Titans, this is their 1st live-action version The Titans.

"...please tell me that you have a refrigerator where you store severed human toes."

I can't even picture what Infinity Wars Part 1 is going to be like when Guardians collides with the rest of the MCU but if it involves suddenly breaking out into "Yakety Sax" then I'm for it. I also really loved the nod to the Stan Lee Theory.

"...please tell me that you have a refrigerator where you store severed human toes."

I can't even picture what Infinity Wars Part 1 is going to be like when Guardians collides with the rest of the MCU but if it involves suddenly breaking out into "Yakety Sax" then I'm for it. I also really loved the nod to the Stan Lee Theory.

I look forward to the Guardians having to come to Earth, especially given all the stories Starlord has told them about it.

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If GoTG 2 took place in 2014, three months or so after the first and the post-credits (spoiler) have Groot as a teen...I'm assuming he'll be fully grown again for Infinity War which I assume takes place in 2018?